Babych Please – August 5th, 2016

Happy August, Canucks fans! It’s almost time to start worrying about training camp invitees and pre-season rosters, but for now we’ve still got time to focus on off-season news such as Bo Horvat’s pastoral childhood and Emerson Etem’s Britney Spears impression.

Rodney, Ontario is the latest destination in the CanucksTV Hometown Visit series. Here, we get to know the wholesome Horvat family and their son Bo. I love when small towns have signs that say things like “Home of Bo Horvat”. Imagine if Toronto did that – “Home of PK Subban, Steven Stamkos, Mark Giordano, Tyler Toffoli, Joel Ward, Andrew Cogliano & the rest”. Bo takes us on a tour of the family farm and introduces us to his brother Cal. The brothers play catch on the lawn before heading to the nearby pond, where they like to fish and paddle. What I learned from this video is that Bo Horvat is a teenager from the 1950s and/or a character from an Archie Comic.

Part 2 of the Horvat Hometown Visit is all about Bo’s journey to the NHL. It’s very sweet – he is so excited about the Stanley Cup in the old home videos that are included! He also rocks a pretty nice mullet as a child.

Emerson Etem marched in Vancouver’s Pride Parade and the photos are wonderful. Look at these jerseys!

The Canucks participated in #ThrowbackThursday again, this time by looking back on the Canucks Family Cookbook from 1980/81. The best recipe is the one for Hamburger Soup because what the heck is Hamburger Soup? They should do one of these next season because you know the Sedins are into like weird Swedish crayfish dishes or something.

Memo to The Scores John Goldsmith: Johny, if you knew any less about team building, you would know nothing at all. You rate the Leafs #1 because you love them. You rate the Canucks #28 because you know nothing about them. Rating Edmonton ahead of Vancouver is laughable.

All five articles in this series are written by guys in the east, who can only agree on one thing: Only the Leafs are doing it right, and know what they’re doing.

Jim Benning is very clear in the direction he wants to go. He wants a competitive team, with veterans to mentor young players entering the league. He wants young players to learn in a winning environment. How is this rudderless, or how does it lack in direction. What part of this plan is unclear?

I guess you have trouble listening, or your hearing is impaired. Patrick Roy couldn’t listen, because he had Stanley Cup rings stuck in his ears…

I’d like to see this article over on NHL Numbers re-done to reflect the last four years, but it clearly shows that tanking/rebuilding is far from a guarantee of future success. I think we don’t have to look any farther than a little north over the Rockies to see how it can backfire in an epic way.